Devlin on a high after Bray win
Credit: Extratime Team (ETPhotos)
Pat Devlin was in understandably great spirits last night after seeing
his Bray Wanderers side win away at champions Shamrock Rovers by one
goal to nothing at the Tallaght Stadium.
“We set out our stall out and adapted very well, and to be quite honest, when you come to a place like this you have to respect the opposition. They are a fantastic club, with fantastic support, and great resources. The players adapted very well, it was a great goal with a great build up and I’m looking forward to seeing it again. The attitude was spot on and that was important.”
Devlin refused to dwell on what might have been had Gary Twigg converted a guilt edged chance in the fourth minute, and instead wanted to focus on the positive aspects of his team's performance, of which there was many.
“You have to look at it on the positive side, we’re coming from a different aspect than they are, and there is going to be chances missed, and chances taken. I’m just happy he didn’t take his chance, and we took ours, and at the end of the day we have got three points that takes us further away from the relegation zone.”
The major aspect to Bray’s victory to some was the effort and endeavour put in by the away side, with just one forward up front in order to nullify Shamrock Rovers' attacking threat. Devlin though felt that it wasn’t just hard work that got his side the victory, and that they also played good football throughout which they have been doing so far this season, without necessarily getting the results they deserve.
"I thought we played well, when we got the ball we played well with it. It was difficult having one up but the way we set them out, you know we’ve done it before. We played it last year and we played it earlier this year and its worked out well. We’ve been unlucky, we played Derry and should have got something out of it, played Bohemians and it was the same. So signs are good, we have competition for places in every position and that’s only healthy for us. The atmosphere and the spirit is excellent as well, and that’s very important.”
In particular on the night the two Bray centre backs Derek Prendergast and Adam Mitchell stood out as star performers. Devlin acknowledged they deserved praise, but that the whole team as a whole put in a great effort.
“Yeah they deserve a lot of credit, but overall I don’t want to single out just them. The way we positioned them, they way we defended, the way we played was excellent, the balls they won, the tackles they won. So overall it was a great team performance but we won’t get carried away, we will keep moving on and sort it out again for next week.”
With three away wins already this season, and yet to pick up a win at home, Devlin said there was no specific formula to how his side have approached the games, rather just a lack of luck when playing in front of their home fans.
“We have just been a little bit unlucky at home, we haven’t approached it any differently. Yes you make changes personnel wise, but that’s part of it. We just need to take our bit of luck when it comes our way, and we didn’t have any luck last week. We had four players out last week that were back tonight so, when you balance it out, we had a bit of luck tonight and defended well and we got our reward.”
“We set out our stall out and adapted very well, and to be quite honest, when you come to a place like this you have to respect the opposition. They are a fantastic club, with fantastic support, and great resources. The players adapted very well, it was a great goal with a great build up and I’m looking forward to seeing it again. The attitude was spot on and that was important.”
Devlin refused to dwell on what might have been had Gary Twigg converted a guilt edged chance in the fourth minute, and instead wanted to focus on the positive aspects of his team's performance, of which there was many.
“You have to look at it on the positive side, we’re coming from a different aspect than they are, and there is going to be chances missed, and chances taken. I’m just happy he didn’t take his chance, and we took ours, and at the end of the day we have got three points that takes us further away from the relegation zone.”
The major aspect to Bray’s victory to some was the effort and endeavour put in by the away side, with just one forward up front in order to nullify Shamrock Rovers' attacking threat. Devlin though felt that it wasn’t just hard work that got his side the victory, and that they also played good football throughout which they have been doing so far this season, without necessarily getting the results they deserve.
"I thought we played well, when we got the ball we played well with it. It was difficult having one up but the way we set them out, you know we’ve done it before. We played it last year and we played it earlier this year and its worked out well. We’ve been unlucky, we played Derry and should have got something out of it, played Bohemians and it was the same. So signs are good, we have competition for places in every position and that’s only healthy for us. The atmosphere and the spirit is excellent as well, and that’s very important.”
In particular on the night the two Bray centre backs Derek Prendergast and Adam Mitchell stood out as star performers. Devlin acknowledged they deserved praise, but that the whole team as a whole put in a great effort.
“Yeah they deserve a lot of credit, but overall I don’t want to single out just them. The way we positioned them, they way we defended, the way we played was excellent, the balls they won, the tackles they won. So overall it was a great team performance but we won’t get carried away, we will keep moving on and sort it out again for next week.”
With three away wins already this season, and yet to pick up a win at home, Devlin said there was no specific formula to how his side have approached the games, rather just a lack of luck when playing in front of their home fans.
“We have just been a little bit unlucky at home, we haven’t approached it any differently. Yes you make changes personnel wise, but that’s part of it. We just need to take our bit of luck when it comes our way, and we didn’t have any luck last week. We had four players out last week that were back tonight so, when you balance it out, we had a bit of luck tonight and defended well and we got our reward.”
